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Ryan Clark cleared to play Denver

Doctors clear Ryan Clark to play in Denver
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on October 31, 2009 5:43 PM ET

The last time safety Ryan Clark played a football game in Denver, he became nearly deathly ill because of how his blood and sickle-cell trait reacted to playing in the thin air.

Clark lost 30 pounds, had his spleen and gall bladder removed, then missed half of the 2007 season.

Clark and the Steelers head to Denver after their bye, and Clark is more than understandably cautious about playing there again.* Doctors have cleared Clark to play, but a final decision has yet to be made about his status.

"I think kind of the competitor in me, the ego of a football player, it's not so much I want to go beat the Broncos, as I would like to come back fully from a situation that brught me near death and kind of conquer playing in a place that made me ill in that kind of way," Clark said this week, before noting that he has a family and career to worry about.

Doctors have apparently cleared him, but Clark needs to hear more.*

"I mean, you can hear certain things, they can put papers in front of you and tests in front of you, but until you're completely comfortable with what you're hearing, it's going to be a tough decision," Clark said.* "And right now I haven't taken in enough information to make a decision either way."

Clark sacrifices his body every week for the Steelers.* The last time they were in Denver he nearly sacrificed a lot more.* The organization should do him a favor and simply make the decision for him.

Tests or not, if Ryan goes out there and plays he's going to be thinking about that the whole time and if nothing else it'll be a distraction..I mean how could it not be, the dude almost died last time.

Tomlin needs to do the right thing here and make the depth step up and keep Ryan on the sidelines or not even make the trip.

I don't see why you would even attempt playing. If you almost died the last time, why would you risk your life for 1 game? Keyword: game. It's definitely not worth it, let Mundy get some playing time and come back the following week against the Bengals.

I agree with not playing him in Denver. He has the rest of his life and his family to think about first. There is still a ton of football left in this season and we will need him healthy in later games. I still hope they offer him a contract at the end of this season and keep him with the Steelers. Clark has proven himself to us and deserves a decent contract with the Steelers.

I agree with not playing him in Denver. He has the rest of his life and his family to think about first. There is still a ton of football left in this season and we will need him healthy in later games.

I don't see why you would even attempt playing. If you almost died the last time, why would you risk your life for 1 game? Keyword: game. It's definitely not worth it, let Mundy get some playing time and come back the following week against the Bengals.

When you get paid as much as these dudes get paid its not a game...it's a job. I have no sympathy for any of these players when it comes to being injured and almost dying. It's his line of work, no one makes him do it. He could be a soldier and then it would be expected of him to die.

he needs to suck it up and play, if they got paid like normal people, I would be all for better protetion for these guys, but they get paid way too much